Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Despite the cancellation of humanitarian assistance as of January 1, 2002, the remaining 128,000 or so East Timorese people taking refuge in West Timor has become a headache for the government because they have not clearly chosen to stay in Indonesia or return to East Timor, and therefore their status is unclear.
The refugees have insisted their rights to stay in the country and but, so far, they have failed to make a clear choice of leaving their camps and joining the resettlement program the government has offered to them. It remains unclear how the refugees will survive as basic food is running out. Some have vowed to obtain meals by any means.
The refugees include 30,000 members of the Indonesian military-backed militia who were blamed for a murderous and destructive rampage in the territory after it voted for independence in August 1999. The rampage and the militia forced some 250,000 East Timorese to flee to West Timor in the province of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). Approximately half have slowly returned to their home land.
The halting of aid was aimed at returning the refugees to East Timor – expected to declare itself an independent state in May – or offering them Indonesian citizenship and resettling them elsewhere as part of the government's resettlement program.
Some refugees near the border between West Timor and East Timor said Jakarta's decision to halt assistance was inhuman. "We appreciate the government's decision to stop food aid. But as human beings we of course need to eat, drink and a place to stay," Olivio da Costa Pareira, a retired military officer among the refugees, said recently.
He said all the refugees did actually miss East Timor and wanted to return home but not by force.
"I and maybe all the East Timorese people living outside their land want to go home. But whether we will leave now or later is our decision. We should not be coerced by anybody," he said. "I will return home after East Timor officially becomes an independent country," Olivio added.
Asked how his family would survive after the food assistance was halted, he simply said: "A bird that never plants anything even affords to live. So do we. By all means, we will struggle for food and meet the family necessities." Antonio, former member of the Red White Iron (BMP) militia, said the government were "cowards" when asked to comment on the halting of aid.
"Please note that we had struggled for Red and White [the Indonesian flag]. The government provided us with weapons to fight pro-independence groups in East Timor. Now they and pro-independence leaders are asking us to go home. It means the Indonesian government is a coward." Other refugees at the Noelbali and Tuapukan camps in Kupang, meanwhile, are busy working on their vegetable plots surrounding the accommodation centers. "I grow corn, peanuts and cassava to anticipate the situation when we may run short of food, so we can feed ourselves without depending on others," Yuliana da Costa, a refugee in Noelbaki, told the Post.
E. Salean, a senior official at the Kupang social affairs office, said ending relief was a final decision. "There will no bargaining in this case. The government will stick to its earlier commitment to stop food assistance for more than 100,000 refugees still living in West Timor," he said.
He denied that the repatriation or transmigration programs were intended to force the refugees to leave the camps. "The refugees are pleased to take one of the two choices. If they want to be repatriated, the United Nations is ready to facilitate that and if they prefer to join the resettlement or transmigration program, some regions within Indonesia are prepared to accept them."